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The Way Toys Work: The Science Behind the Magic 8 Ball, Etch A Sketch, Boomerang, and More
A Selection of the Scientific American Book Club
Profiling 50 of the world’s most popular playthings—including their history, trivia, and the technology involved—this guide uncovers the hidden science of toys. Discover how an Etch A Sketch writes on its gray screen, why a boomerang returns after it is thrown, and how an RC car responds to a remote control device. Leaving no detail unrevealed, the guide includes original patent-application blueprints and photos of the “guts” of several devices. Inventors and museum curators also offer their observations of favorite gizmos while dispelling (or confirming) several toy legends. Complete with explanations of do-it-yourself experiments and tips on reverse engineering old toys to observe their interior mechanics, this entertaining and informative reference even provides pointers on how budding toy makers can build their own toys using only recycled materials and a little ingenuity.
Profiling 50 of the world’s most popular playthings—including their history, trivia, and the technology involved—this guide uncovers the hidden science of toys. Discover how an Etch A Sketch writes on its gray screen, why a boomerang returns after it is thrown, and how an RC car responds to a remote control device. Leaving no detail unrevealed, the guide includes original patent-application blueprints and photos of the “guts” of several devices. Inventors and museum curators also offer their observations of favorite gizmos while dispelling (or confirming) several toy legends. Complete with explanations of do-it-yourself experiments and tips on reverse engineering old toys to observe their interior mechanics, this entertaining and informative reference even provides pointers on how budding toy makers can build their own toys using only recycled materials and a little ingenuity.
- GenresScienceNonfiction
178 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
About the author
Ed Sobey
35 books2 followersEd is curious - he wants to see the world and understand how it works. So he travels (a lot) and takes things apart. And, he enjoys putting things together from building robots to writing books.
As a math and physics major, Ed likes numbers. He's traveled to 61 countries on all 7 continents. He has directed 5 museums (including the National Inventors Hall of Fame and founding the National Toy Hall of Fame) and written more than two dozen books.
He holds a Ph.D. in oceanography and has participated in 20 some expeditions, including doing research on sea ice in Antarctica. With his wife, he has sailed across the Pacific Ocean and has done a circumnavigation teaching oceanography for Semester at Sea. Ed is a Fellow Emeritus in The Explorers Club.
An avid outdoors person, Ed runs, bikes, swims, kayaks, and SCUBA dives. Along the way he searches for the unusual gizmo to take apart - or at least figure out how it works.
As a math and physics major, Ed likes numbers. He's traveled to 61 countries on all 7 continents. He has directed 5 museums (including the National Inventors Hall of Fame and founding the National Toy Hall of Fame) and written more than two dozen books.
He holds a Ph.D. in oceanography and has participated in 20 some expeditions, including doing research on sea ice in Antarctica. With his wife, he has sailed across the Pacific Ocean and has done a circumnavigation teaching oceanography for Semester at Sea. Ed is a Fellow Emeritus in The Explorers Club.
An avid outdoors person, Ed runs, bikes, swims, kayaks, and SCUBA dives. Along the way he searches for the unusual gizmo to take apart - or at least figure out how it works.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 31, 2017
Not only do I want to recommend this book, I want to buy it. It not only gives the “why” but also how you can build some of these yourselves. As someone who teaches scientific exploration, I can’t wait to own it.
September 16, 2008
688.728 SOB
This book has a much more self-published feel than, say Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them by Tim Walsh. Timeless Toys is a coffee table book, with pretty paper, lots of color photographs and professional design.
But I like this book much better.
This book briefly covers history, who designed the toy and how it works. The real meat of this book is how they took it apart (hacksaw and dremel for the Etch A Sketch), how it works, any science experiments you might be interested in trying, and if it's possible to make your own.
I learned that the Magic 8 Ball is not full of water. There's a small-ish cylinder with fluid in it, and there's a "bubble remover" built in. I learned that you shouldn't take apart the Etch A Sketch because the powder inside is very fine, gets EVERYWHERE, and is aluminum. But I learned that the Magna Doodle might just very well come apart and go back together for you if you're careful.
You can make a balsa wood airplane out of a styrofoam meat container. You can make stereo-scopic pictures a la View-Master that really work. I learned that (supposedly) the Furby was banned from sensitive areas of the NSA because they thought the fact that it was programmed to slowly "build" its vocabulary meant that it was recording language. And the yo-yo is more complex than I had thought.
This is a great book, B&W photos aside, because they do what every kid wants to - take apart toys that were never meant to come apart.
This book has a much more self-published feel than, say Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them by Tim Walsh. Timeless Toys is a coffee table book, with pretty paper, lots of color photographs and professional design.
But I like this book much better.
This book briefly covers history, who designed the toy and how it works. The real meat of this book is how they took it apart (hacksaw and dremel for the Etch A Sketch), how it works, any science experiments you might be interested in trying, and if it's possible to make your own.
I learned that the Magic 8 Ball is not full of water. There's a small-ish cylinder with fluid in it, and there's a "bubble remover" built in. I learned that you shouldn't take apart the Etch A Sketch because the powder inside is very fine, gets EVERYWHERE, and is aluminum. But I learned that the Magna Doodle might just very well come apart and go back together for you if you're careful.
You can make a balsa wood airplane out of a styrofoam meat container. You can make stereo-scopic pictures a la View-Master that really work. I learned that (supposedly) the Furby was banned from sensitive areas of the NSA because they thought the fact that it was programmed to slowly "build" its vocabulary meant that it was recording language. And the yo-yo is more complex than I had thought.
This is a great book, B&W photos aside, because they do what every kid wants to - take apart toys that were never meant to come apart.
February 28, 2011
The title may be deceptive, but the book was hard to put down.
Who knew that Frisbees flew due to a precise angle of attack and a well defined "precession"? Does anyone else think that the Magic 8-Ball is completely filled with dark liquid as I did? That a Rubik's Cube can be solved in as little as 27 moves? That both Play-Doh and Silly Putty can easily be made at home?
I really enjoyed this find at our local library, and I'm not only a phillips screwdriver away from dismantling an old Etch-A-Sketch to peer inside.
Who knew that Frisbees flew due to a precise angle of attack and a well defined "precession"? Does anyone else think that the Magic 8-Ball is completely filled with dark liquid as I did? That a Rubik's Cube can be solved in as little as 27 moves? That both Play-Doh and Silly Putty can easily be made at home?
I really enjoyed this find at our local library, and I'm not only a phillips screwdriver away from dismantling an old Etch-A-Sketch to peer inside.
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July 25, 2011My wife got this for me as a gift - and she knows me well. The title and subtitle explain exactly what the book is. It satisfied huge curiosities of mine. Buy it for your kids, then read it yourself.
February 27, 2015
I liked it. A lot. love is too strong a word. liked the history. liked how they explained how one can make these toys with everyday items. I liked how it was written. it became a fast read for me. made wait at dmv bearable. that's saying something. I'll let you determine what that is.
January 30, 2015
Fun trip into physics and play, and some fun ideas of things to make on your own, too!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews